It's the Year of the Tiger!

Chinese New Year is Tuesday, February 1, 2022 with festivities lasting for 16 days (January 31-February 16, 2022). Chinese New Year is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. The holiday is a two week festival filled with reunions among family and friends, an abundance of delicious food and wishes for a New Year filled with prosperity, joy and good fortune. The year 2022 is the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac. The tiger is a courageous, daring, generous and self-confident animal according to the zodiac and those born in the “Year of the Tiger” are said to inhabit those traits.

If you were born in the year of the tiger there are several things that are considered lucky and unlucky; they include:

Lucky Things for Tigers

Lucky colors: blue, green

Lucky numbers: 1, 3, 7

Lucky flowers: plum blossom

Lucky directions: north

Unlucky Things for Tigers

Unlucky colors: white

Unlucky numbers: 4, 9

Ways to Celebrate the Chinese New Year

1. Cleaning the home and decorating with red items: People give their houses a thorough cleaning, which symbolizes sweeping away the bad luck of the preceding year and making their homes ready to receive good luck.
   • Red is the main color for the festival as the color denotes prosperity and energy — which ward off evil spirits and negativity. Red lanterns hang in streets; red couplets and New Year pictures are pasted on doors.
2. Offerings to ancestors: Honoring the dead is an important tradition for the New Year. Many Chinese people visit ancestors' graves on the day before Chinese New Year's day, offering sacrifices to their ancestors before the reunion dinner (to show that they are letting their ancestors "eat" first), and add an extra glass and place it at the dinner table on New Year’s eve.
3. Family Reunion Dinner: Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important time for the family to gather for dinner (even though many family events can happen throughout the holiday). Wherever they are, people are expected to be home to celebrate the festival with their families. The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is called 'reunion dinner'.
4. Exchanging Red Envelopes and other gifts: The most common gift for Chinese New Year is a Red Envelope. Red envelopes have money in it, and are often given to children and (retired) seniors. Other popular New Year gifts are alcohol, tea, fruits, and candies.
5. Chinese New Year Food: Lucky food is served during the 16-day festival season, especially on the New Year's Eve family reunion dinner. There are 7 lucky foods the family will eat in order to ensure a healthy and prosperous New Year:
   1. Fish- an increase in prosperity
   2. Dumplings- for wealth
   3. Sweet Rice Balls- for family togetherness
   4. Spring Rolls- for wealth
   5. Good Fortune Fruit- for fullness
   6. Glutinous Rice Cake- for a higher income or higher position
   7. Longevity Noodles- for happiness and longevity

At Premier Home Health Care we want to wish everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. We hope everyone is able to celebrate with their families safely during the season.

xīnnián kuàilè 新年快乐

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